Franco's remains could be exhumed

Spain may exhume the remains of dictator Francisco Franco from the vast mausoleum erected using the forced labour of political prisoners in the hills near Madrid and convert the site into a museum of reconciliation.

Under proposals to be considered by the Spanish government the dictator's corpse could be transferred from the controversial Valley of the Fallen to the El Pardo cemetery in central Madrid and buried alongside his wife, Carmen Polo.

The remains of Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera, the founder of Franco's Falangist party, which currently lie next to the late dictator, would be removed from the basilica and placed in a separate grave within the complex.

The proposals have been made by a commission of experts tasked with deciding the fate of a memorial that even 36 years after the death of the General still casts a dark shadow over Spain....